Jeremiah 22:5

But if ye will not hear these words Will give no attention, and yield no obedience to them: I swear by myself, saith the Lord; and by a greater he cannot swear; and that is the reason why he swears by himself, ( Hebrews 6:13 ) ; and as, when he swears to a promise, it shows the immutability of it, the certainty of its performance, and that it is irreversible, and never repented of, nor revoked; so it is when he swears to a threatening. The Targum is,

``by my word I swear:''

that this house shall become a desolation; meaning not the temple, nor the city, but the king's palace.